In dentistry it is a general desire to provide dental restorations which approximate the appearance of natural teeth. The appearance of natural teeth is on the one hand provided by color shades, and further by a certain translucency. A dental technician or a dental practitioner, for example, typically selects the color of the restorative material to be used for the dental restoration according to the teeth in a patient's mouth that are located next to the tooth or teeth to be restored. For example, the appearance of relevant teeth in a patient's mouth may be determined using shade guides. Exemplary shade guide types are available under the designations “VITA Classical Shade Guide” or “VITA Toothguide 3D-Master®” from the company VITA Zahnfabrik H. Rauter GmbH & Co. KG, Germany.
Further, there are electronic devices for measuring a color and/or a translucency of a tooth.
Such an electronic device is for example available under the designation SpectroShade™ from the company Medical High Technologies, Italy.
There are further electronic devices which integrate several functions, including illumination, light hardening, imaging and color measuring.
For example WO 2014/043488 A1 discloses a dental irradiation device which comprises a first light emitting unit for emitting blue light adapted for light hardening of a dental material. The device further comprises a second light emitting unit and an image sensing unit which are adapted for cooperation with each other for simultaneous illumination and image capturing. Image data captured by the device may be used by a computer for measuring a tooth color therefrom.
Although current devices may provide a variety of advantages there is still a desire to provide a device that is relatively convenient in handling. Further such a device is desirably inexpensive. There is also a desire to provide a device which can be used at a relatively high level of hygiene.